I used to be the class clown of a bank: Ryan Jon on Rising Stars

This post was first published on Radio Today on 12 May 2017. See the original here.

Rounding out an incredible five-part Rising Stars series of Game Changers: Radio with Craig Bruce is the young Australian breakfast announcer Ryan Jon.

Jon co-hosts Hit104.7 breakfast alongside Tanya Hennessy in Canberra while at the same time juggling a weekend breakfast show on Sydney’s 2Day FM.

At such a young age, his radio credentials already speak for themselves. But like many other radio announcers, Jon never considered getting in to the industry, until he got his first job.

“I used to be the class clown of a bank – which is very easy because everyone’s really boring,” Jon recalled. “I wanted to be a storyteller. The boss brought me in one day and said, ‘If you want to go tell stories, go get a radio job.’”

The rest is history for Jon who, while working at SCA, got in touch with a young(er) Craig Bruce and received some wise and confronting advice from the radio veteran.

“Ryan, this isn’t funny,” Jon said as he boldly recited Craig’s note. “Trying to be funny is really hard – just be yourself. You’re an interesting guy so share those interesting thoughts with the audience and they’ll love you for it.”

Jon passed on some advice of his own to up-and-coming radio talent: “Get over yourself and move to Dubbo,” he said. “So many people think they’re better than a low-wage and the country. If you actually want to do it then you’ll go wherever you need to.”